248 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



which corn was taken; for twenty -three pounds and a half 

 per day made a gain of fifteen pounds and three-quarters in 

 thirty -five days. 



In tlie following experiments, grain and ensilage were 

 apparently cheaper foods than hay and grain. I have already 

 shown, that, with dry foods, straw, or stover and grain, were 

 more economical than hay. 



With McBryde, three steers gain fifty pounds and two- 

 thirds each, in a month, with a feed of forty -eight pounds 

 of ensilage and six pounds and a quarter each of cotton- 

 seed and other meals. As no analj^sis of his ensilage is 

 given, I can only guess, by the heavy loss in weight from his 

 silo of the previous year, that it must have contained twenty 

 per cent or more of organic matter ; which would give nine 

 pounds and eight-tenths in ensilage, and about five pounds 

 and seven-tenths in grain, or a total of fifteen pounds and 

 five-tenths each. My ration of organic matter fur a gain 

 of forty -one pounds and a quarter for a month contained 

 fifteen pounds and two-tenths organic matter per day per 

 thousand-pound steer; but it was fed in a colder climate. 

 My stover, of course, had the richest part in the ear 

 taken off; and the ration contained less than half the 

 amount of grain, and gave a little less of gain. The ele- 

 ments of exact comparison are not here ; yet a candid com- 

 parison of the results will show a difference, in the efficacy of 

 the food, in favor of my ration. With oat-straw, my rations 

 contain much less organic matter than those of McBryde's, 

 or over twenty per cent less ; and this straw is robbed of its 

 richness by grain, threshed out, and supplemented by less 

 than one-half the meal that the ensilage had. It is the 



FOOD COMBINATIOISr 



that is giving to ensilage most of the credit that is said to 

 belong to it, but erroneously credited to it. Ensilage and 

 grain very likely are cheaper than hay, but are not proba- 

 bly so cheap foods as either stover, or straw and grain. 

 They have given a misapplication to a valuable fact that 

 they do not see, and credit to ensilage, as such, the glory 

 that belongs to the union of two foods, and that might more 

 easily be had, and valuable capital saved for farm improve- 

 ments. 



